SOS TORONTO

HARBOUR SQUARE PARK, TORONTO

SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) is on view until September 16th 2019 in Lake Ontario, Toronto, Canada, as one the first temporary art installations commissioned and sposored by Waterfront Toronto, which is spearheading a multi-billion dollar waterfront development program.

Three figures have been added to the installation since its 2016 debut.

Each figure represents more than one million of the estimated nearly 26 million refugees in the world today.

A+J are grateful to Lucas Cowan of the Rose Kennedy Greenway for recommending the project to Waterfront Toronto.

Photo: Nicola Betts Photography

Photo: Nicola Betts Photography

Photo: Nicola Betts Photography

Photo: Nicola Betts Photography

Photo: Nicola Betts Photography

SOS 2016

FORT POINT CHANNEL, BOSTON

22 brightly painted figures floated in Boston’s Fort Point Channel for two months in 2016.

SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) relate Fort Point Channel to the seas crossed by those in search of shelter, freedom, prosperity and safety. They evoke Boston’s long history of welcoming immigrants.

Each figure represents more than 1 million of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated 22.5 million refugees in 2016.

Animated by the environment, SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) take on a life of their own. Changing weather and different viewpoints give the installation a range of meanings.

2017 Public Art Network, Americans for the Arts (PAN) Year in Review program outstanding public art project of the year. Chosen by jury from 325 entries, the 49 selected projects represent the most compelling work from across the country.

SOS CONTACT

A+J Art+Design

A+J Art+Design is a multidisciplinary collaboration between artists Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier. We share a commitment to site-specificity, interactivity and community engagement. We do extensive research and intensively collaborate in the service of the community and the site’s history, current identity, and future aspirations. We believe that public art can provoke and entice while inspiring civic engagement.